Shoemaking



July 21, 1936. F L A ER 2,048,048

SHOEMAKING Filed Nov. 9, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 atented July 21, 1936 SHOE Fred L. Ayers, Watertown, Mass, assignor, by mesne assignments, to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Paterson, N. 3., a corporation of Massachusetts Application November 9, 1932, sens! No. 641,850

6 Lain: g, This invention relates to the art of shoe-making and more particularly to that field of shoeattach the marginal portion or the shoe upper to the insole. In order to realize satisfactory attachment of the shoe upper to the insole, it is necessary to use an insole of substantial thickness, even though such qualities as flexibility and light weight, frequently desired in the fore part of the shoe, have to be sacrificed.

In accordance with the present invention, the marginal portion of the shoe upper is attached as ordinarily to the insole,- but, after such attachment has been effected, the insole is reduced in thickness at the fore part of the shoe beginning preferably substantially at the front shank line and terminating substantially at the tip, thereby conducing to a shoe which is lighter and more flexible at its fore part. While such reduction in thickness may be performed in connection with insoles of various types, including leather in soles, as by gouging out a layer of insole material of the desired thickness, nevertheless, the principles of the present invention are applicable to especial advantage in connection with plied insoles, that is, insoles made up of two or more plies or laminations and whose plies may be readily I separated at their planes of bonding or plying.

in such case, the insole may be prepared for the shoe-making process in such a way that one or more of the outer plies may be quickly lifted or removed from the fore part alter the marginal portion of the shoe upper has been suitably fastened to the insole as ordinarily.

I may cite the application of my invention to a cement-process shoe which is made by initially channeling the edge of the insole inwardly to form two laps, one of which is turned upwardly and serves as a lip to which the edge portion of the upper is attached as by staples, and the other lap of which serves to receive the marginal portion of the upper in cemented relation thereto. In making such shoes, the lip simply serves as a temporary means for holding the upper in place while the cement employed for bonding the marginal portion 01'. the upper to the insole is setting or hardening. In other words, the lip, together with the staples or other fastening means and excess upper, is cut or trimmed away after anchorage of the upper to the insole by the cement has been effected. In such case, when the ing one type of cement shoe.

insole is made up of two plies, it is a comparatively easy matter to remove the outer ply material at the forepart of the shoe, as all that need be done is to form a kerf in the insole at the front shank line, say, about one-quarter inch in front of the ball line, extending from one edge of the insole to the other and of a depth terminating at the plane of plying. The fact is that when the channel is formed substantially at the plane of plying or somewhat inwardly of the plane of plying, the re- 10 moval of the temporary lip, staples and excess upper; as hereinbefore described, leaves the outer ply material free for easy removal through the formation of a kerf such as described, as such a keri develops a starting edge which can be grasped 15 by the operator so as to allow a pulling away or removal of the outer ply material from the rest of the insole. It is thus seen that the insole may be prepared in such a way as to permit a prompt reduction of the thickness of the insole at the 2 fore part of the shoe immediately after the upper has been attached to the insole. In the case of McKay or welt shoes, wherein the marginal portion of the upper is tacked or sewed to the insole, the insole may be pro-scored to permit the desired 25 removal of the outer ply material at the fore part of the shoe immediately after the upper has been fixed to the insole.

With the foregoing and other features and ob Jects in view, my invention will now be described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein,-

Figure 1 represents in plan view an insole prepared in accordance with my invention for mak- Figure 2 is a plan view of the shoe bottom immediately after the temporary lip, staples, and the excess upper have been cut away, the removable outer-ply portion of the insole being partly lifted away from the insole adjacent to the shank line.

Figures 3, 4 and 5 represent sections on the line 3-3 of Figure 2 at different stages of the shoemaklng process.

Figure 6 is a side view of the finished shoe, the fore part being shown in section.

Figures 7 and 8 are fragmentary sections through a shoe containing a somewhat modified form of insole at diiierent stages of shoe-making.

Figure 9 is a plan view of an'lnsole pre-scored for use in a McKay shoe.

Figure 10 is a plan view of such a shoe bottom immediately after the upper has been tacked to the insole, the removable outer ply portion of 2 the insole being partially lifted from the mt oi the insole adjacent to the shank line.

Figure 11 represents a section on the line ii-Ill .of Figure 10, with the outer sole secured in place. Figure 12 is a plan view of a welt shoe bottom immediately before the removable outer ply portion has been removed, 7

Figure .13 represents, a fragmentary section through the fore part of the completed welt shoe.

. front shank line. This kerf may extend from one side edge of the insole to the opposite edge and be of a depth terminating at the plane of plying.

The outer lap I formed by the channel is, as-

shown in Figure 3, bent outwardly to form a lip to which the edge portion of the shoe upper II is secured as by staples I! while held on a last i3. This securement is merely a temporary-one cle signed to hold the shoe upper, in place, for the marginal portion ll of the upper and/or the inner lap it receives a coating of liquid cement designed to set or harden and thereby anchor the shoe upper. After the cement has set, the up l0, staples I2, and the edge portion of the upper, are removed by cutting down as far as the outer surface of the marginal portion id of the upper, as shown in Figure 4. This leaves the upper ply material beginning with the kerf x and terminating'with the tip line 2!, as shown in Figure 2, free for removal. The operator may, therefore, grasp the starting edge e develo by the her! and pull the upper -ply material away mm the rest of the insole, as illustrated in 2 1: 2. When this has been accomplished, a cavity or recase is formed at the shoe bottom between the edges of the shoe upper and this cavity may, as shown in Figure 6, be filled with a filling material I6 preferably of a soft and flexible nature before "the outer sole l I is cemented as ordii,

' to the The removal of the outer pLV mashoe bottom.

, terial of the insole at the forepartof the shoe greatly enhances the flexibility of the shoe where flexibility is highly desired. The shank'snd heel portions of the shoe are, however, preserved rigid, asrigidity is a desirable quality at these portion. It might be mentioned that the insole is preferably completely prepared before it is tacked to the last. In other words, the kerf a: is prefer-i ably formed therein and the lip I0 is turned outwardly before tacking to the last is effected. The kerf :c permits the insole to break or fies easily and assume the contour of the shank portion of the last and it also facilitates the outward turning of the lip ill at 'the shank portion of the insole withoutcrowding or bunching at this portion. 1

when the insole is made up oi two plies, either or which a sumciently still to permit successful channeling, channeling may be eflec v in the in-' ner ply on a plane sumciently removed fromthe plane of plying to dispense with the need of shoe filler material after outerply ma has been removed'from the fore part of the 'lhus,

s wn inrlaure '1. the inner ply as be somewhat thicker than the outer'ply ma readily am enabled to start out with an insole of suflicient terial i8 and channeling may be effected in the ner my I 8 on a plane sufflciently removed from the plane of plying so that when the marginal 30 of the shoe upper is bonded to the inner lap 2!, the outer face-of the marginal portion will lie substantially flush with the plane of P1ym8-',This' means that when the temporary lip, staples, and the edge portion of the shoe upper are removed and the removable fore part of the outer ply is torn away from the rest of the 10 insole, a substantially flat bottom requiring no fllling material will result, as shown in Figure 8.

In preparing a two-ply insole for the manufacture of McKay shoes, it is desirable to prescore the insole as illustrated in Figure 9. The scoring is done inwardly of the'edge portion of the insole to leave an edge zone of suflicient width to t tacking of the marginal portion of the shoe upper to the insole. The scoring may start substantially at the front shank-line of the insole and take the general contour of 'the insole, as shown in'Figure 9, with the score line reach-, ing internally to the plane of plying. After the ml portion of the shoe upper 2! has been secured by tacks 22 to the insole, the operator 2 may remove the outer ply material defined by the line of score, as shown in Figure 10. In this case and a properly rounded edge portion 25. Im-

mediately beyond the stitch-receiving channel as, the insole may be pre-scored in the same way as is an insole designed for use in McKay shoes. After the insole has been assembled with the shoe upper and welt, the removable outer ply portion 1 26 y be torn away andthe cavity thereby formed be filled with a suitable filling com- El, as shown in Figure 13, before the outer sole 281s stitched to the welt 29 as ordi- It is thus seen from the foregoing description of various applications of my invention, that I thickness, say, the usual four-iron insole, perform the necessary shoe-making operations as ordinarily, and then to remove that portion of the insole which is unnecessary and which oetracts from the desired'qualities of lightness and 5 flexibility at the fore part of the shoe, whereas the rest of the shoe, including the shank and heel portions, is preserved rigid, as is usually desired. While the principles of my invention have been described specifically in connectionwith such types of shoes as McKay or Littleway, welt, and a particular form of cement-process shoe, it

is to be understood that these applications of my invention are merely illustrative and that other specific ts of my invention are possible and indeed highly practicable. For instance, in channeling the insole for cement-process shoes,

it is le to cut the channel outwardly from the edges of the-insole, intead of from the edges inwardly, as previously described, to form a temporary lip-for the attachment of the shoe upper; the liprexcess-upper, and-staples being uently removed ortrimmed away. This sort of channeling allowsthe .outer ply to.

- at thefore part of the e, 25

aoaaoss but the marginal or edge portion 0! the insole is left intact withboth plies. The intact marginal or edge portion does not, however, detract unduly from the flexibility afforded by the zone which has been reduced in thickness and which exists throughout the fore part of the insole, excepting at such intact marginal or edge portion. I claim:

p 1. An insole channeled from its edges inwardiv to form lapping edge portions, one of said porq tions being bent outwardly to form a lip, said insole having a kerf substantially at the front shank line and extending from its outer face to its interior.

2. An insole channeled from its edges inwardly to form lapping edge portions, one of said portions being bent outwardly to form a lip, said insole having a kerr' substantially at the front shank line and of a depth commencing at its outerface and terminating substantially on the plane of channeling.

3. An insole made up of at least two plies channeled substantially on the plane of plying inwardly from its edges to form lapping edge portions, one of said portions being bent outwardly to form a lip, said insole having a kerf substantially at the front shank line and of a depth commencing at its outer face and terminating substantlaily on the plane oi channeling.

4. An insole made up of at least two plies, one being relatively flexible and the other relatively still, said stifl ply being channeled inwardly from its edges adjacent to the plane or plying to form lapping edge portions, one of said portions being bent outwardly to form a lip, and said insole having a kerf substantially at the front shank line and of a depth beginning with the outer face of said stlfl ply and terminating substantially on the plane of plying.

5. An insole made up of at least two plies, one

of said plies being scored inwardly of its edges substantially to the plane of plying along a line substantially to the plane of plying along a line following the contour of the fore part and including a kerf substantially at the front shank line and whose ends terminate within the insole edges.

FRED L. AYERS. 

